The Springfield, OH, business community has joined together to help transform an outdated Brinks armored truck into a SWAT rescue vehicle for the Springfield Police Special Operations Team, according to a report in the Springfield News Sun by Allison Wichie.

“We’ve done everything that we can do to that truck,” said Fred Maine, owner of Maine’s Collision Repair. “And it’s for all the guys that do (special operations). This is my thanks to you and we’re just happy that you make Springfield a safer place.”

Maine’s Collision Repair, Navistar and the UAW Local 402, Hays Fabricating, the Miami Valley AAA, the Port Authority of Springfield and Dave Maute with Allstate Insurance all donated more than $100,000 in parts, labor and cash to transform the old Brinks truck into a rescue vehicle for the Special Operations Team.

Maine said the teamwork and collaboration among the Springfield and Clark County businesses made the finished product so spectacular.

“Anyone that we talked to that we needed something, when I went and asked, they gave,” Maine said. “The Special Operations Team is working constantly trying to get equipment and do the things they need to do and so (helping with the truck) just made sense.”

Police and the Special Operations Team began looking into an armored vehicle after Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Suzanne Hopper was killed by a gunman as she was responding to a shots fired call at Enon Beach campground in 2011. It was then that the law enforcement community realized it needed special equipment to help protect officers responding to dangerous situations, said Springfield Police Chief Stephen Moody.